The NBA has recently called Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager David Griffin to complain about the team sitting its trio of stars out of a nationally televised game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night. As reported earlier, the Cavs chose not to play their big 3 - LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love in a 108-78 loss to the Clippers, even though all three players were 100% healthy.
Why Cavs Rested Their Big 3
According to Cleveland.com, this is the second consecutive week where a marquee team has rested its stars in the NBA's Saturday prime-time slot on ABC. It was later on revealed that Griffin, along with James' trainer Mike Mancias and the Cavs' medical team, chose to sit James out for one game.
Neither Love nor Irving was also candidates to play on consecutive nights, and playing Sunday against the Lakers rather than Saturday against the Clippers meant an extra day off for both key players. The Cavs intend to have everyone healthy for the upcoming playoffs, and that was Griffin's message to the league was.
Coach Lue On Cavs Dwindling Lead In East
After the game, Cavs' coach Tyronn Lue was asked if whether the Cavs could afford to take games off like this, given the hard fact that their lead in the Eastern conference has reduced to 1.5 games over the Boston Celtics. Lue responded that the Cavs "can afford anything,"
"They still gotta beat us, Lue continued, "teams will have to try and beat us, so I'm not worried about it that much. If it happens it happens, but we're not worried about that right now."
Doc Rivers Makes His Statement
In other news, Sporting News has reported about Clippers' coach Doc Rivers' recent statement after the Cavs-Clippers game. Rivers said that the NBA should "protect its product" and reduce the number of back-to-back games.
"The league has to protect its product," Rivers said. "It's hard and it's impossible if you actually knew what is going on in terms of scheduling, but the look of back-to-back ABC national games, it's not looking good."
